Department of Preventive Dentistry

The Dental Public Health Program (formerly the Department of Community Dentistry) was established at the same time as the Faculty of Dentistry, Khon Kaen University in 2523. The objective of the Bachelor of Dentistry program was to provide dental graduates with all-round characteristics, whether in terms of academic knowledge, nursing, oral health rehabilitation, disease prevention, professional discipline and ethics, as well as attitude, human relations, and social responsibility. The Dental Public Health Program plays a role in taking responsibility for the characteristics of dental graduates in many aspects, especially in addition to academics related to the clinic. In 2527, the Faculty of Dentistry adjusted the curriculum. The Dental Public Health Program was also restructured, and has become the foundation of the Community Dentistry Program, Faculty of Dentistry, Khon Kaen University, up until the present. The Community Dentistry Program Guidelines in 2527, at that time, the first batch of dental students of the Faculty of Dentistry, Khon Kaen University, were in their third year and had not yet studied many community dentistry courses. At that time, the three lecturers, namely Assoc. Prof. Dr. Suwit Udomphanit, Asst. Prof. Dr. Thaweechai Wangsrimongkol, and Asst. Prof. Dr. Supreeda Adulyanon, considered the community dentistry curriculum of many institutes, and the Faculty of Dentistry, Chiang Mai University, was very prominent in community dentistry. All three lecturers agreed with the curriculum of the Faculty of Dentistry, Chiang Mai University. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Suwit, along with Asst. Prof. Dr. Supreeda, traveled to Chiang Mai Province to request the community dentistry curriculum, which at that time had Assoc. Prof. Dr. Anchalee Dutsadeephan as the head of the Department of Community Dentistry, with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Uthaiwan Kanchanakamol as the main supporter. In addition, the results from the seminar on community dentistry education in 1 at Chulalongkorn University, from the problems and ideas of dental public health practitioners in the area and under the context of the Faculty of Dentistry, Khon Kaen University, which was the first university in the northeast, were developed and determined as the community dentistry curriculum. Later, the branch opened a Master of Science program in Dental Public Health from 3 to 3 with 3 master’s degree graduates. In 2523, the Faculty of Dentistry merged the graduate programs into only one program, the Master of Science Program in Dentistry, which was divided into 2536 majors. Therefore, the graduate program of the Dental Public Health branch was changed to the Master of Science Program in Dentistry with a major in Dental Public Health. In addition, the branch also participates in organizing 2554 more doctoral degree programs, namely the Doctor of Philosophy Program in Oral Sciences and the Doctor of Philosophy Program in Public Health (International Program), the latter being a joint program of the Graduate School. Currently, the Dental Public Health branch has a total of 17 faculty members, with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wilawan Vira-archakul as the Head of the Dental Public Health branch.

Progress-Pride

1. At the general public level, the Department of Dental Health has implemented the Oral Health Promotion School Project in the area around Khon Kaen University, which has many activities that help push the target group to have appropriate concepts and policies for health care, such as:
   • Seminar for school administrators and community leaders to promote policies in schools and communities that are conducive to oral health care
   • To present oral health information and plans to the community so that the community is aware of oral health problems and causes, which will make people aware of the need to deal with various factors in the community that cause oral health problems.
   • Developing the potential of community leaders, which is a stimulus and guide for the community to see the importance of implementing oral health activities in the community by themselves.
2. At the macro level, the Dental Public Health Branch has participated in various activities that have played an important role in driving changes in health care and dental education, such as:
   • Personnel are invited to be speakers to give lectures to personnel in other agencies both domestically and internationally.
   • Personnel participated in the meeting to discuss and set goals and policies in dental health and public health at the provincial, district, regional and national levels.
   • Personnel have joined various committees or subcommittees at national and international levels, which have missions in developing dental and public health work, such as Assoc. Prof. Dr. Waranuch Pitipat, President of the Asian Academy of Preventive Dentistry from 2559-2560, President of the Thai Dental Public Health Club from 2557-2558, and in other positions such as the Executive Board of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Thailand, Subcommittee on Training and Certification in Dental Public Health, etc., and Asst. Prof. Dr. Wilaiporn Sutanchainont, President of the Center for Assessment and Certification of Knowledge and Competence in Dental Practice (CDC), etc.
3. At the professional level, the field has many dental public health research works that can be used as references and to guide the society in dental public health work, with more than 60 published works appearing in international databases such as SCOPUS, ISI and PUBMED.
4. As a center for training in clinical and dental public health research, the dental public health branch, led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Waranuch Pitipat, received a training grant on “Clinical, Public Health, and Behavioral Oral Health Research” from Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States continuously between 2549-2561, totaling 1.87 million US dollars, in collaboration with the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Washington, United States, and Thammasat University, organized the training with the aim of developing personnel in the Southeast Asian region to have the ability to conduct dental research and develop the Faculty of Dentistry’s capability to organize training and conduct research in the said field. This training has created a great reputation for the Faculty of Dentistry, Khon Kaen University, both nationally and internationally.

Innovation-Textbook

Dental Research Methodology
Author: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Waranuch Pitiphat